THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL, by John MacArthur

This is just one of John MacArthurs's many books. For many years, he has written many books, all focused on teaching God's Word. He is a conference speaker. Since 1969, MacArthur has served as Pastor-teacher to Grace Community Church, which is in Sun Valley, California. His GRACE TO YOU audio program, which has been in operation for many years, has become global in its scope. It reaches listeners in both English and Spanish. GRACE TO YOU distributes many books, software, and digital recordings. MacArthur has written many books. These include: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS, TWELVE ORDINARY MEN, TWELVE EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN, SLAVE, and THE MacARTHUR STUDY BIBLE. The last is a 1998 ECPA Gold Medallion recipient. MacArthur's material is spread across seven chapters. He includes an Epilogue of the Apostle's testimony and Acknowledgements. This is followed by four Appendices, a Glossary, Notes of sources, an Index, an Index of Scripture verses used, and, finally, an author bio.

I have read numerous books by John MacArthur. And so I knew what to expect. I was counting on this book to be God-centered and Calvinist in approach. I was expecting it to be solidly theological and Biblical. The GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL took the approach of MacArthur's other works. Many, even in the Christian community, will disagree with some of his beliefs. In the beginning of the book, MacArthur made a a few statements that betray a strongly conservative, religious right bias. When mentioning the corruption and idolatry of politicians, he deplored what a many politicians denounce as "income redistribution." If MacArthur was denouncing corporate welfare and big tax breaks for the wealthy, I fully agree with him. But if he was talking about programs that vulnerable and low-income citizens use just to survive, I can't disagree with him more. But I did not know how to interpret what he meant; I hope he was denouncing corporate welfare.

I recommend MacArthur's books, including this one, for all pastors and Christian leaders. I know that many of them will not agree with MacArthur's convictions. But I would hope that they would keep open minds. Unlike many Christian leaders, John MacArthur's ministry has been scandal-free. No ethics violations. No sexual impropriety. No financial crimes. So he must be doing something right. His books are for those who are serious about following Jesus. Casual believers and non-Christians will be turned off by his style of writing and his approach and voice.

I have received a complimentary copy of this book through BookLook Bloggers, in exchange for my honest review. I wasn't required to give a positive review of this book.

Parables, by John MacArthur

This book is solidly Bible-based and rooted in Scripture. The author, John MacArthur, is a well-known pastor-teacher of a large congregation in California, Grace Community Church, in Sun Valley, California, where he has served in this capacity since 1969. He owns a website, Grace to You, which contains, among other things, a blog of his teachings, video and written transcripts of his sermons, and some free downloads. He also offers a free resource for new followers of Jesus. His Grace to You online ministry is international in scope and has satellite offices in seven countries. MacArthur has compiled a study Bible, multiple Bible studies, commentaries, and many books on a wide variety of topics from a solidly Scriptural worldview, from marriage and parenting to prayer and spiritual warfare and much more. MacArthur opens this book with a two-part introduction, carefully and clearly deconstructing misconconceptions of why Jesus spoke in parable and what a parable actually is and is not. THe book is arranged in ten chapters and ends with a short acknowledgment by Macarthur for his congregation and fellow pastors. MacArthur includes an appendix of explaining more f Jesus' parables. He provides two pages of notes as a short bibiography of sources he has used for this book. He closes this book with an index of keywords for this book, and wraps it all up with a Scripture index to cross-reference all the Scriptures he has used for this book and ends with a brief author bio.

In reading this book, I was not surprised at anything about it. That is because I have heard MacArthur's teachings and have read and own many of his books. In all his speeches and writing, I have found him to be always, consistently passionate about and commited to the inerrancy, reliability and all-sufficiency of the Bible. It is MacArthur's goal to get his readers and listeners into the Bible, to search the Scriptures for themselves. The Bible,as he points out, stresses the dire need for followers of Jesus to combine correct doctrine with holiness in living. This author does not deliver his messages for entertainment, comfort or poltical correctness. I found this to be the case in this book also. I was mildly surprised that he did not include Jesus' parable in the Progigal Son in this book and I would have liked to see his coverage of the parable of the four soils to be more in-depth but I think his purpose in this book is to get readers to search the Scriptures about these parables. By far, I found the chapter on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus most uncomfortable, as MacArthur uses it to nudge non-Christian readers to trust Jesus as Lord and Savior and to make Christian readers feel the weight of responsibility to make Jesus known to non-Christians. MacArthur used this chaper to press home the reality of hell for all those who leave this Erath without Christ. Hell, of course, is an unpleasant and disturbing topic and taboo even in many Christian cirches but it is clearly taught in the Bible! What was a new one on me is that PILGIM"S PROGRESS, according to MacArthur, is not a parable but an allegory of made-upcharacters though MacArthur said in another part of the book, that some of Jesus' parables may have been made up.

I recommend this book for every pastor, so they can be clear about parables,why Jesus used them and how they themselves can use Jesus' parables in preaching. I suggest this book for all followers of Jesus, especially those serious about looking at Jesus' parables from a Biblical perspective so they can talk about them with others. MacArthur's writing style is heavy on theology, as all his books and materials, so non-Christians may find this book boring as it is not designed to entertain or make the Gospel palatable. In fact, many "progressive" Christians may be turned off by MacArthur's solidly conservative worldview and emphasis on correct theology.

I have received a complimentary copy of this book from Booklook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to give a positive review.